School: Evanston
Nickname: Red Devils
Colors: red and blue
Stadium: Red Devil Stadium
State championships: 1951, 1985 and 1997
Times worth remembering: Starting in 1977, Evanston had nine consecutive winning seasons and reached state championship games five times, culminating with a Class 3A title in the 1985 season. In that span, Evanston tallied a record of 62-18.
Times worth forgetting: Two tough stretches have affected Evanston football — back-to-back winless seasons in both 1970-71 and in 2001-02. The 1970-71 stretch was part of a bigger streak that included 33 games without a win, encompassing 1969-72, one of the longest in state history. The Evanston teams in 2000-03, meanwhile, lost 26 consecutive games.
Best team: The 1964 Red Devils brought together the school’s best assemblage of defensive talent. The squad went 9-0 and gave up just 20 points all season, shutting out six of its opponents. The scary part about the ’64 squad was how similar every game was: the Red Devils’ nine wins were by scores of 19-0, 21-0, 14-0, 28-7, 25-7, 21-0, 13-0, 27-6 and 19-0. Talk about consistency…. Even so, in the final UPI poll, Evanston was ranked fifth in the state, behind both three-loss Sheridan and two-loss Natrona.
Biggest win: The 1985 championship game brought the Red Devils out of a frustrating streak of championship-game losses. Evanston had lost championship games four times in the previous eight years, including one in overtime, but with a 47-8 win over Torrington for the 3A title in 1985, the Red Devils earned their first state championship in 34 years and finally put to rest all the frustration of close calls of past title games.
Heartbreaker: Twice in the waning moments of the 1983 Class 3A title game, Evanston had the chance to put Buffalo away. Twice, the Red Devils came up short, and lost a chance at a state championship in the process. Buffalo kept Evanston from scoring on a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the final minute, and then stopped the Red Devils’ two-point conversion attempt in overtime to wrap up a 13-12 overtime victory.